Door operating means



Filed April l1, 1932 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 ,w o HIHMHUHIMIIUIMHWMMIHIUMMIHINMHIIMMM" @www - oct. 2, 1934.

v c. cAKoRA DOOR OPERATING MEANS FledApril 11, 1952 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Oct. 2, 1934. c. CAKRA 1,975,632v

I DOOR OPERATING MEANS y Filed April 11, 19:52 s sheets-sheet s lll/nf llllllllll nv Patented Oct. 2, 1934 PATsr caries noon OPERATING MEANS vCharles Cakora, Lyons, Ill., assgnor to G. S. Blakeslee & Co., Cicero, Ill., a. corporation of Illinois Application April 11, 1932, Serial No. 604,423

7v Claims.

This invention relates to door operating means, and is more particularly directed to a door operating mechanism for raising and lowering a plurality of sliding doors simultaneously.

In the preferred embodiment of the invention I have disclosed the door operating means in conjunction with a pair of sliding doors on a dish washing machine, but it is to be understood that the invention is equally applicable to a variety kof other structures.

The door operating mechanismpreferably comprises eccentrically mounted pulleys or sheaves, mounted upon a common shaft, which shaft is maintained under the tension of a spring by l5 means of a ratchet and pawllocking connection.

Connected to the pulleys are suitable door operating cables, which are secured to the doors and lwhich are wound and unwound upon the pulleys for raising and lowering the doors.

The eccentrically mounted pulleys are so disposed that when the doors are in lowered position, the weight of the door and the length of the effective lever arm of the pulley are such as to prevent raising of the door by the spring.v However, when the doors are in raised position,

the pulley has been rotated to an extent such that the weight of the door and the length of the effective lever arm of the pulley are insufcient to overcome the tension of the spring and lower the door. Thus the doors are maintained in either open or closed position automatically, and no latchng means for positioning the doors -in either of these positions is required.

The operating mechanism isV constructed as :an enclosed unit, vand may be positionedfto operate parallelly spaced doors, or Amay be angled in position to operate ,doors extending normal to eachother, without any modification of the door nection vwithgthe accompanying drawings, willv disclose to those skilled in the art the particular constructionrand operation of a preferred embodiment of my invention.

In the drawings: i

Figure 1Iis a side elevational view of .a dish washing machine lprovided with the door operating means; I v

VFigure 2 is a front elevational viewof .the dish .--155l washingmachine disclosed in Figure 1;

shown in Figures 3 and 5.

Figure 3 is .a plan View of the dish washing mal to .each other, provided with the door operating unit;

Figure 5 is a sectional view through the door operating unit, showing the vdetails of v construction -of the pulley and the associated .shaft and spring tension means;

Figure 6 is a detail sectional View taken on the line 6-6 of Figure 5, with the door lowered;

Figure 7 is a view similar to Figure 6, showing the position of the pulley when the door is raised; and

Figure 8 is a sectional View taken substantially on the line 8 8 of Figure 5, showing the Vdetails of thek locking mechanism Yfor the spring tensioning adjustment.

Referring now to the Vdrawings in more detail, in Figures 1 to 3,`inclusive, Ihave shown a dish Ywashing machine ofknown type, a base 1, a caswith a pair of oppositely disposed doors 5, provided adjacent their lower edges with handles 6, and sliding in suitable guides v'l carried by the casing 2.

Suitably supported .tables9 and 1i) extend from casing 2 and are disposed to receiveand support the trays 4of dishes as they are slid into and out of the casing. Y

Disposed .upon .the top .of the easing 2, and extending from front to back thereof, Vis a housing 11 .which contains the door operating mechanism. The `mechanism comprises a pair of spaced coaxial .pulleys enclosed in pulley housings 12 and. 13. Connectingthe pulley housings 12 and `13 is a-substantially inverted U-shaped housing member 14, which is disposed over aconnecting shaftpbetweenthe twopulleys. I

In` Figures I have shown a modified type of washing machine, in which the tables 9 and l0 `are mounted at right angles to each other, and

the door members 5', are therefore normal to each other. Inlthis modification, .thedoor operating mechanism `l1 is mounted diagonally .across the .top ofthe Acasing 2, 'butjis identical in Aconstruction with the door voperating mechanism operation of the other door.

Referring now in detail to Figures 5 to 8, which are sectional views showing the construction of the door operating mechanism, the housing or unit 11 is preferably mounted upon the top wall 15 of the casing 2, and extends the entire distance between the side walls 16 of the chamber. The pulley housings 12 and 13 are preferably cupshaped, and each is provided with an inwardly extending bearing sleeve 18, which sleeves rotatably support a shaft 19 extending between the two housings. Suitable cover plates 20 are secured to the outer side of each of the. housings 12 and 13, as by means of the screws 21 and 22, and serve therewith to enclose the pulleys.

As shown in Figures 6 and 7, a pulley sheave 23 is disposed within each of the pulley housings and is suitably keyed to the shaft 19, by means of a key member 24. The sheave 23 is provided with a shoulder 25, which bears against the inner surface ofthe ,housing 12. v Each of the sheaves'23 is provided with a Vcable 26, one end of which is secured to the sheave by means of a screw 27, which threads into the sheave.

The cable 26 extends down through a suitable channel 28 formed in the respective housings 12 and 13, and through an opening 29 formed in the top wall 15 of the casing 2, and is suitably secured at its lower end to an angle bracket 30 secured to the sliding door 5 adjacent the lower edge thereof. It will be noted, from Figure 2, that the cable is secured off center with respect to the door, which produces a binding action upon the door when it is in raised position, and thus lserves to hold the door in such position.V It will be noted that the door guides extend only a slight distance above the door when the door is in lowered position. Upon raising of the door to its upper position, a major portion of the door projects above the guides. This provides for cocking or binding of the door with respect to the guides, due to the pull of the cable applied on one side of the center of the door. This pull tends to cock the door and bind it against downward movement. When the door is lowered, the pull of the cable is released, allowing the door to drop back into proper cooperation with the guides, and ,as the `door is lowered no further binding occurs since lthe guides prevent lateral tilting of the door; This action is produced whether the door be manually raised and lowered, or whether it be raised and lowered automatically by manual A bushing 32 is secured on shaft 19, between the housings 12 and 13, by means of a taper pin 33. A spacing member 34 is positioned about the shaft 19 between vthe bushing 32 and a second bushing 35 which is suitably recessed to receive bearing member 18 of the pulley housing 12. Y Y

Member 18 of the pulley housing 12 is provided with a ratchet 36, as shown more clearly in Figure 8. A suitable tension spring 38 is coiled about the spacing member 34 and has an end thereof secured in the opening 39 of flange 32a of bushing 32. At its other end, the spring 38 is non-,rotatively secured, by means of the angular- 1y bent portion Ll0, to flange 35a of the bushing 35, thus positioning the spring 38 between the two bushings 32 and 35 to serve as a tension means therebetween. The radially flanged portion of the bushing 35 also carries a suitable pin 42, which serves as a pivot fora pawl 43, which engages the teeth of ratchet 36 of the pulley housing 12. e

Through the ratchetand pawl means, the bushing 35 can be adjusted to place the spring 38 under any desired tension. This tension is transmitted through the bushing 32 and the taper pin 33 to the shaft 19, and tends to rotate the pulleys 23 in door raising direction.

Referring now in more detail to the pulleys 23, it will be noted, in Figures 6 and 7, that the pulleys are eccentrically mounted with respect to the shaft 19. The pulleys are so disposed that, when the door is lowered each pulley occupies the position shown in Figure 6, in which the effective length of thelever arm of the pulley for raising the door is the distance indicated by X, and when the door is raised the pulley occupies the position shown in Figure '7, in which the effective length of the lever arm for holding the door raised is indicated by Y.

The pulley 23 is shown in Figure 6 as being in the position corresponding to the lowermost position of the door 5, and the weight of the door, acting through the lever arm of the length X overcomes the tension of spring 38 tending to open the door, so that the door remains in its lowered position. The spring 38 assists in raising the doors. In the fully raised position of the doors the moment of the weight of the door times the length Y of the eifective lever arm of the pulley is less than the turning moment imparted to shaft 19 by the spring 38, and the doors remain in their uppermost position. As will be apparent from Figures 6 and 7, this produces an inverse-variation between the effective length of the lever arm and the effective arm of the rotating means. lever` arm length is indicated by the dimension X when the door is in lowered position, in Figure 7 this length has decreased to a length indicated by the dimension Y, when the door is in raised position. Correspondingly, the effective moment of the rotating means increases as the door is raised. v

When the doors are moved downwardly the Vpulleys are again rotated, and, when the doors reach their lowermost position, the moment of the tension spring 38 is not great enough to? counteract the moment of the weight of the door times the effective length X of the lever arm, and

the doors remain in lowered position.

The doors are operated simultaneously and similarly, and the eccentrical mounting of the length of pulley arm is effective. The pulley mayA rotate through a half revolution, or one and a half revolutions, or any other suitable distance during movement of the doors from lowered to raised position, or vice versa, to produce this result.

The tension spring may extend substantially the entire length of the shaft connecting the two pulleys, if desired, but ordinarily sufficient tension can be provided by a spring member extending only partially the length of the sha-fthe` tween the pulleys. The entire operating mechanism is fully enclosed and is of simple and compact construction, and requires no special assembling knowledge or skilled operation. As shown in Figures 3 and 4, the operating mechanism cani Thus, while in Figure 6 the pulley e les lic

ist

be disposed for parallelly spaced sliding doors, normally positioned sliding doors, or other positional arrangement of the doors, without any change of construction.

I do not intend to be limited to the exact details shown and described in connection with the preferred embodiment of the invention illustrated, but only in so far as defined by the scope and spirit of the appended claims.

I claim:

l. In combination, a shaft, pulleys eccentrically mounted thereon at each end of said shaft, door guides, a plurality of doors in said guides adapted to be raised and lowered by rotation of said pulleys and connected to said pulleys, the connection between said pulleys and said doors binding said doors against said guides when said doors are in raised position, means carried by said shaft and disposed between said pulleys tending to rotate said shaft in a raising direction, and means for varying the tension in said last named means, the eccentricity of said pulleys increasing the effect of said rotating means when the doors are in raised position.

2. In combination, a door, guides for said door, a shaft mounted above said door, a pulley eccentrically mounted on said shaft, an off-center connection between said pulley and said door adapted to bind said door when in raised position, a pulley housing forming a bearing support for said shaft, tension means for rotating said shaft, and means carried by said tension means and engaging said pulley housing for varying the tension of said tension means in accordance with the Weight of the door to be raised.

3. In combination, door guides, a door adapted to be raised and lowered in said guides, a rotatable shaft positioned above said door, a pulley eccentrically mounted on said shaft, means normally tending to rotate said shaft in raising direction, and an off-center connection between said door and said pulley, the eccentricity of said pulley causing the effective length of the pulley lever arm to vary inversely with respect to the effective arm of the rotating means during move- Inent of said door, and said connection binding said door in raised position.

4. In combination, door guides, a pair of parallel spaced doors adapted for vertical sliding movement in said guides, a shaft disposed above said doors and extending therebetween, said shaft having eccentrically mounted pulleys disposed upon the ends thereof, tension means for normall;7 rotating said shaft in one direction, and means connected between said doors and said pulleys for raising and lowering said doors, said means being adapted to bind said doors in raised position.

5. In combination, door guides, a pair of normally extending doors adapted for vertical sliding movement in said guides, a shaft disposed above said doors and extending angularly therebetween, said shaft having eccentrically mounted pulleys disposed upon opposite ends thereof substantially v centrally of each of said doors, tension means for rotating said shaft, and connections between said doors and said pulleys, said connections being disposed on one side of said doors to bind said doors in raised position.

6. In combination, a structure having a pair of doors mounted for vertical sliding movement within corresponding door guides secured thereto, cables connected to said doors, a rotatable shaft on the top of said structure having a pair of pulleys for receiving said cables, said pulleys being mounted eccentrically on said shaft, and means tending to rotate lsaid shaft in door opening direction, the moment of the doors and the effective length of the pulley arm decreasing as the doors are raised.

7. In combination, a vertically sliding door, door guides extending beyond the upper edge of said door when said door is in lowered position, a cable connected to said door at one side of the center thereof, a pulley eccentrically mounted above said door guides and receiving said cable, andtension means for rotating said pulley, said cable being tensioned and acting to cock said door with respect to said guides when said door is in raised position with the major portion thereof extending above said guides.

CHARLES CAKORA. 

